


Sass, Cynicism, and YA Romance

by ChibisUnleashed



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: #flashback, Abuse of Astronomical Catalog Naming Convention, Also Sera as an adult, Fluff, Gen, Pitch has some issues to work through, ROTG Secret Santa 2019, Reconciliation, Sera as a tween, Tickling, a little humor, but like dad humor, father-daughter bonding, namely his life, ridiculous dad being ridiculous, two for the price of one!, which means it's not very humorous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22028746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibisUnleashed/pseuds/ChibisUnleashed
Summary: It's been a long time since Seraphina Pitchiner has had anyone she could call a father. She's rather ready to have one again.But that doesn't matter if he's not ready to be one.
Relationships: Mother Nature | Seraphina Pitchiner & Pitch Black
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Sass, Cynicism, and YA Romance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jamie_Aizen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jamie_Aizen/gifts).



> Waahhhhhh This is so far outside of my usual style of fic that I am certainly nervous to release it into the world, but I was really determined to *try* despite the challenge it presented. Jamie, you are a parent and I am not, so I am super aware of my limitations here, but I have tried to go outside of myself to find that place and put it on paper for you. I hope that if it's not perfect, that I have at least captured something of the spirit of the love a parent has for their child here. I hope that it at least makes you smile~
> 
> Thanks to Writlarge for hosting secret santa again this year! I know it's a lot of work to do this for all of us and I appreciate it every time <3

It was darker than the other boxes. A tarnished brass when everything else was a shining, polished yellow. Seraphina pressed her fingers to the cloisonne patterns along the top of the box and felt their delicate edges. Awfully big box for just one tooth, but Sera would never dare to tell Tooth how to do her job. It seemed to be a one size fits all kind of situation.

“Thank you for letting me see,” she said, finally letting go of it. She pressed the box into Tooth’s waiting, gentle hand and made herself step back. Tooth’s understanding, patient smile was too much. It hurt. It all hurt, and Sera needed to get away.

“Of course,” and all of the excitement and pleasure that had been in Tooth’s voice before was tamed, calmed into a soothing, lullaby-like tone. She knew Sera was tense, and she was tip-toeing, and Sera hated it. 

She wasn’t going to break. She wasn’t overwhelmed. And if she was, she could deal with it. She had dealt with everything else so far, she could deal with this.

She just… needed to do that somewhere else.

“I need to-” Sera began, then stopped, “I’m sure you’re-” Why did everything sound so cliche? She wasn’t trying to make an excuse, but that’s how it all came out. She forced a smile. “I’ll see you later.”

Tooth’s smile regained some of its shine, and Sera was glad to see it. “Anytime, Love. The palace is always open to you.”

Sera would like to say something else, exit a little more smoothly, but…

Her thoughts were a jumble, and she didn’t have the energy to think on it any more. She bowed, turned, and was gone.

-

“Why have you come here?”

The voice echoed endlessly against the hard rock walls. It perfectly camouflaged wherever the voice may have come from. Which was fine, because Sera was in tune with the Earth and didn’t need to rely on her  _ ears  _ to figure out where bodies disturbing the ground and the air happened to be. Let him hide, if it made him feel more at ease. She wasn’t here to scare him. This time.

“To talk,” she answered curtly. She didn’t owe him manners or pleasantries.

He certainly hadn’t made it a habit of offering those to  _ her.  _

Laughter, mean and hollow, echoed this time. She wasn’t amused, and neither was he. “Then talk,” he said simply, “You’ll forgive me if I don’t quite believe you. It’s been a long time since you’ve been so civil with me.”

She wouldn’t admit it aloud, but to herself, that was fair. He had not exactly given her reason to be civil, though.

“Do you remember when I was last civil to you?”

Even for a cave covered in darkness, it was quiet. The silence was unnatural, eerie by design. Sera could feel it through the rock; nothing was moving down here. Pitch was barely breathing. 

She thought he might be thinking about it. Actually  _ trying  _ to remember. His mind was… not what it used to be, but no one else knew just how gone it was. That was a secret Pitch kept to himself.

Mostly.

“Almost.”

The answer was a whisper on stagnant wind. It didn’t echo. The word reached her and faded into nothingness. And yet it said so much.

_ Almost  _ meant the memories weren’t gone.  _ Almost  _ meant there was some chance of almost becoming  _ yes. Almost  _ was not a  _ no.  _

Without letting any warmth into her voice, Sera asked the void around her, “Would you like me to remind you?”

The smallest bit of an echo was back, “ _ Could  _ you?”

She could. She remembered it very well. She had thought about it a lot while she was out there in space with nothing else to really do. It wasn’t a remarkable story. Right boring, actually. On second thought, that wasn’t the story she wanted to tell. It was meaningless, in the grand scheme, and she had so many better memories to pick from.

Like the one she knew for a fact was hidden in Pitch’s mind somewhere, present enough to have been selected and pressed for safekeeping into the one lone tooth he had lost during the whole of Toothiana’s reign.

Did he remember it more than as a distorted reflection? Did he, just maybe,  _ actually  _ remember it?

There was no better way to find out than to ask. It was harder now to keep the warmth out, but she held her voice firm. “Do you remember that afternoon in the Gliese system?” 

The shadows shifted, for the first time since she arrived. It was normally an ill omen, but right now it felt like hope. 

She pushed.

“Do you remember my books?”

“Perhaps,” said a shadow to her left, but then it wasn’t a shadow. The darkness solidified into a man, and eyes and teeth glowed, hanging suspended in the black all around. 

That was a frustrating answer. Sera was not here to play games. She narrowed her eyes in warning and let some ice slip into her words, “Do you or do you not? It is a yes or no question, Pitch.”

His lip curled at the edge, clearly displeased. However, he didn’t melt back into the shadows, or return to his annoying echo-voice, so he must not be  _ that  _ displeased. In fact, it meant this conversation must be more important to him than he wanted to let on.

“I  _ think  _ I do,” Pitch bit out irritably, “Does that answer satisfy?”

“It does,” she said, with a nod to recognize his cooperation, however reluctant it was. Best not to be as rude as she could be. He was, apparently,  _ trying.  _

It was a promising answer, too. If Pitch thought he did, then he must, at the very least, be aware enough to have imagined replacement memories, even if the true ones were lost. You didn’t  _ almost  _ remember something you didn’t know you ought to remember. 

“Now,” she began, allowing herself a small, secret smile, “tell me if this sounds familiar.”

-

It was good to get her away. The military made too many demands of his time, and when he stayed home to spend time with her, even their play seemed to be regulated by strict schedules and interrupted by calls for his attention. 

This far out in the Gliese system, if someone wanted his attention, it would take them a while to get it.  _ And  _ he was pretty good at ignoring their calls and dodging their presence until he felt like being found. 

And Sera  _ loved  _ the game of chase. The best part of taking her out here was the utter lack of plan. They could do anything, talk about anything, do nothing if they wanted, and there was no pressure to ‘get back to what mattered’ or ‘prioritize their time’ some other way. 

They were on an average moon of an average planet. Sera had wanted to explore the terrain just because she could. It wasn’t terribly interesting. There were broken rocks and small cliffs, lots of dust and odd little bugs that Sera liked to watch. 

She was done now, though. They sat on the edge of a crater, letting their legs dangle over the edge. Kozmotis had half a mind to let himself slide off the side and along the rounded slope to the bottom, but only after Sera was done lecturing him about young adult romance novels.

“But she should have just let him go,” she was saying, worked up into a proper rant with her arms waving all around, “He wasn’t respecting her career choices! Who was he to say what was or wasn’t ‘like her’?  _ I  _ would never let a boy get away with treating me like that.”

Kozmotis dearly hoped she wouldn’t. 

“If he didn’t like who I was becoming,  _ fine.  _ He can go find someone else to stay the same, then!” 

Her face was flushed a pretty pink in her excitement. Koz didn’t actually have to say anything, he could just sit here and smile at her and she would continue on as if he had, but part of the fun of being dad was interjecting ridiculous things, so he had to. 

“I don’t think you’re allowed to date statues, though.”

_ “Daaad!”  _ Sera groaned, “You know what I mean.”

“You sound too experienced,” Koz stated sagely, “Do you have boyfriends I don’t know about?”

“Stop it!” She smacked his arm, and it wasn’t all that gentle. She was strong, and Koz was proud. “You know that I don’t. That’s not what I’m talking about! Stop distracting me!”

“Alright, alright, I won’t say anymore,” he promised. It was a lie. “Please, continue.”

“Thank you,” she said primly. It was very cute. “Anyway, she had more chemistry with her best friend. I hate it when writers force two characters together because they’re  _ supposed  _ to be together. I would have rather nobody ended up with anybody! Romance isn’t romantic if it’s  _ stupid.”  _

Well, his daughter was certainly opinionated. “Oh, I know,” he said indulgently, “That’s the absolute worst.”

Sera scoffed and looked at him with a put-upon glare. “Dad, you don’t even read these books.”

“I don’t,” he agreed, “but I hear about them through you all the time.”

“It’s not the same!”

He shrugged, “It’s pretty close.”

“It’s not close at all!”

“You’re right,” he grinned, “Guess that means we should get closer, right?” And with a speed and strength born of military training, Kozmotis scooped up his daughter into his lap and attacked both of her sides with nimble fingers.

She shrieked in protest, absolutely  _ shrieked.  _ She could be so loud when she wanted, and Koz winced, but didn’t stop his attack. Not even when she elbowed him in the chest, nor when she kicked his shin with her heel. He only stopped when she finally  _ told  _ him to, gasping the word out between hurried breaths, “Stop, stopstopstop!”

Koz knew the smile on his face had to look horribly soft, endlessly patient, and likely exasperatingly innocent. Sera would appreciate none of it. He wrapped his arms tight around her waist and held on while she caught her breath. When her heartbeat had slowed from a sprint to a trot, he asked, “Close enough?”

“By the moon, Dad!” she exclaimed, hitting both of his thighs with unamused little fists, “You’re not funny!”

Kozmotis thought he was pretty funny. 

Taking the opportunity where it lie, he shoved off from the edge and kept her safely tucked to his chest as they slid the fifteen or so feet down the edge of the crater and into the dust. 

Sera yelped and clung to his arms, smartly pulling her knees up so her feet didn’t drag on the ground. She looked a little panicked, but her grin was huge, and that was the kind of look Kozmotis lived for. Even when they slowed to a stop, Koz didn’t let her go, continuing to hug her close to his chest like the precious bundle she was.

She twisted around to face him, but didn’t try to get away, “Dad, that was dangerous! I wasn’t ready!”

Kozmotis let go only enough to tuck her hair behind her ear. She was still so small, but he could see the woman she would one day be already. Fierce, and wild, but careful and so kind. He couldn’t wait, but he also knew he would forever miss her just like this. “The best things happen when you aren’t ready.”

She laughed and shook her head, looking at him like he was crazy. She was right. “Also the worst.”

Kozmotis leaned back as if he were offended, “Who taught you to be so cynical?”

“Uh, you?” The absolute  _ sass  _ in that tone.

“Never me!”

“And my books.”

Koz shook his head, “We need to get you new reading material.”

Sera snorted and wiggled away from him to stand, then turned around to offer her hands to help him up, which was so cute Koz thought his heart might burst. “There’s nothing wrong with my books,” she was saying, “Besides, how else am I supposed to learn about dating? You just keep telling me not to!”

Koz stood to his full height, brushed his trousers free of dust, lifted his nose into the air and said, “No one will ever be good enough for my little girl.”

Sera rolled her eyes so hard he worried for their safety, “Yeah, exactly.”

“You have  _ years  _ before you have to worry about that,” he insisted. He placed a hand gently around the back of her head, because he just didn’t want to let her go yet.

“No I don’t,” she said right back, and leaned into his side because she was a wonderful daughter like that, “I’m old enough to have crushes. I  _ could  _ have a boyfriend if I wanted! I just… don’t, yet.”

She was growing up too fast. Koz took it back. He could wait for her to grow up. He could wait forever. “Well, be sure to tell me as soon as you do so I can make sure to be extra scary.”

The unimpressed look she gave him was comical in how convincing it was. “Why would I want that, Dad?”

Koz patted her head softly, “Not everything is about what you want.”

She put a hand on her hip and Koz had to wonder just where all of this attitude had come from. “My dating is pretty much  _ only  _ about what I want.”

Koz tried not to laugh too much but feared that he was failing. She looked like an adult crammed into a tiny tween body and he couldn’t help but to lift her up into his arms. “Of course. Absolutely. How could I be so silly?”

She sighed, but deigned to wrap her thin arms around his neck anyway, “You’re always silly.”

“Am I?” he asked. He turned around and began the trek back to the crater wall. He was tall enough that scaling it wouldn’t be too hard. Even with his daughter attached to his chest. “It’s only because I love you so much. You know that, right?”

Sera looked to be fighting her smile, as if letting him see it would encourage his bad behavior, but she was very bad at hiding her happiness and eventually just let it shine. “I know, Dad. I love you, too.”

She was already so beautiful. 

-

His voice was a quiet whisper, scattered by a breathy wind and almost inaudible, definitely not meant to be heard. But she heard it.

“So it was real…”

She let him consider that for several more seconds of silence, respecting his need to process the knowledge and the feelings that came with it. But she couldn’t let them be silent forever. She was a busy spirit, and she was ready to have her father back, if he was at all capable of  _ being  _ back. 

“It was,” she said, “and I have a million more memories just like it.”

Pitch’s eyes snapped up to hers, sharp and glowing in the darkness. There was a horrible desire there, a longing so acute it could slice. He  _ wanted  _ what she was offering, maybe more than she wanted it. No, not maybe. Definitely. 

He didn’t say anything, so she continued. “I know that your mind has been fractured. I am willing to fill in the gaps. Are you willing to heal?”

Pitch’s gaze turned suspicious, calculating, and… wary. He thought she might have meant to hurt him. She couldn’t fault him for it, it wasn’t like she had been particularly nice to him recently. Still, she needed him to make the decision. Sera could tell him stories all day and night, but it wouldn’t mean a thing if he wasn’t going to take any of it to heart and  _ try  _ to be her father again. 

Because right now,  _ she  _ was more of a functioning adult than he was, and that was rather sad. 

Pitch was fighting an internal battle. She could see that he was picking his words very carefully, that he wanted to say something but, maybe just didn’t know how. Maybe just didn’t know how to  _ trust.  _

Finally, he lifted his head, eyes steeled with a strength she was almost certain he didn’t actually have. “I am not sure that I can.”

Seraphina was surprised,  _ shocked,  _ at the honesty. She felt a prickling at the corners of her eyes, and blinked it away. That, more than a simple yes, spoke volumes about the willingness he might be too afraid to show. 

“If you can, we will find the way,” she said with a strength and confidence that could only come from her years of experience finding her path all on her own. The Guardians worked miracles every day, and this could be one of them. “Will you try?” she asked, “For me?”

He hesitated, and she would swear that as he stood there, his gaze turned wet, although a tear never fell. His voice, when he spoke, was so soft. It reminded her of when her father used to tuck her into bed with a kiss and a wish for sweet dreams.

“For you, I would do  _ anything.” _


End file.
